Could use some help, please

I once heard the sound of the felt pad just before the hammer hit the string on a piano. What impressed me was that this was not a live piano but a recorded reproduction. On that day I was hooked.

Since then, and three grown children later I have dreamed of having a Hi Fi system that could truly reproduce music as if I were there. My dream has remained out of my reach over the last 30 years.

I am disabled, confined to a wheelchair every moment that I am awake. Home bound and only getting out to see the occasional doctor or clinic. I live on a fixed income along with my wife and grandson. My dream of a Hi Fi has consistently had to take a back seat to the every day challenges of keeping a roof overhead at below poverty level income.

I'm very proud of my accomplishments and over coming the adversities of disabled life, so it is with great internal conflict that I convey the following;

So far I've manage to put together an Onkyo A-RV401 Amp, T-403 Tuner, DX-702 CD Player, TA-RW344 Cassette and a CP-1100A Turntable. The Amp, tuner, tape deck, and turntable were an Ebay surprise I found for $50 as a set. The CD was another Ebay prize I picked up for $6.50. Originally I had found a DX-1500 CD but was damaged during shipping. For speakers I picked up an older pair of Kenwood JL-802 speakers at the local flea market for $20 and a really old pair of Sansui SP-50's from Goodwill for $5.00.

Although, this system is far superior to the Emerson it replaced, I'm still not hearing real music. The Kenwoods have a tendency to get muddy sounding in the mid to upper mid range tones. They also require higher power levels to get any bass response out of them making it difficult to have conversations. We have taken a liking to the old Sansui's on lower volume levels. Their sound is not bad for the age but there is no definition to the sound. There is also no 3-D range, if I'm using the term correctly. When the Kenwoods are turned up the music fills the room and surrounds the listener, where the sound from the Sansui speakers is flat and just there.

I'm thinking my biggest weakness lies in the speakers. (Though I am sure many feel the whole system may be lacking.) I'm up to $75 so far which for some may not be very much, but for me, that's a large dent in my monthly income.

I have bid on several sets of Kef's and Bostons only to watch them price themselves out of range in the last hour of the auction. My friend suggested that someone on this site may have a pair of speakers that are old, cosmetically damaged or even being used as the rears in a surround sound. If any of you have a pair of speakers sitting there that you would part with for a very small amount of money, please let me know. I sure could use them. In fact, any advice you might have, even on a DIY speaker you have personally used with good results would be welcome. Any advice on getting the most out of the system I have now would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for this great site and for all I have learned from reading here.


http://neverthoughtithappen.blogspot.com/